I found out of about The Wilderness of Manitoba through an e-friend (I’ve never met her) named Dorothy. She kept mentioning them on Facebook, so I thought I’d check them out.

They’re a lot like Fleet Foxes, if Fleet Foxes had some female singers. They definitely inhabit a world with a lot of ethereal folkie landscapes (the “Wilderness” in their name is fitting) and eerie slide guitar. There’re also a couple instrumentals or nearly-instrumentals that take me to distant planets. Or Canada.

I bought When The Devil’s Loose ages ago when I first discovered $5 albums through Amazon, but I hadn’t listened to it until the project. It’s a great album; you’ll be singing along to the pretty acoustic-pop numbers by the second listen.

I know nothing about the band at all, but for all those years I had my iTunes music sorted by artist (it’s now sorted by album name, in deference to the ongoing project), this album was always at the front of the cover flow. Therefore, even though I hadn’t listened to it much, the name and the cover is really familiar to me. I guess those AAA Towing people in the phonebook know what they’re doing!